Dublin Transport 1984

Century of Endeavour

Public Transport in Dublin

(c)Roy Johnston 1984

The stimulus for this paper was the opening up of the DART system. The ideas suggested in it surfaced again in the context of the 1991 Irish Planning Institute prize essay 'A Vision for Dublin'. I sent copies to John Carroll who then headed the Irish Transport and General Workers Union, and to Paul Conlon who then headed CIE the national transport agency. I have however no record of the paper being published, or any of the ideas being taken up.

Introduction

It is increasingly recognised that point-to-point personal mobility in a city, at all times during the day, is a key factor in the urban economy.

If the public system is unable to provide this service in a manner acceptable to the consumer, the latter will attempt to ensure individual personal mobility in the city by bringing in a vehicle.

Due to the relative failure of the public system in Dublin, this 'personal solution' is adopted by a majority of Dubliners, to the extent that the objective, personal mobility, is defeated by traffic congestion and parking problems.

An effective campaign is needed to upgrade the public system so that it captures the bulk of the market, providing a reliable and accessible service in uncongested streets.

This campaign needs to be planned strategically by the Dublin Transportation Authority (when effectively set up), with mass-media support.

The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART)

The first strategic move has been made, in the form of the DART, which has demonstrated the superiority of a public system which runs to schedule with priority right of way. The contrast with the bus system could not be more striking.

It is important that the momentum of DART be kept up, with DART regarded as a component in an overall urban plan, which includes stages of development of a total integrated multimode system, under a single management.

While recognising the importance of the ongoing development of DART itself, bringing in Clondalkin, Tallaght, Ballymun etc, with continuity of work for the skilled construction teams, there are immediate development opportunities for the existing urban bus system which are made possible by the existing first phase of DART. It is to these opportunities that the present article seeks to address itself.

Express Feeder Routes

There is already envisaged a system of feeder routes for DART. Their implementation has however run into industrial dispute problems, related to single manning. It will therefore be necessary to involve the total CIE urban transport workforce in any restructuring plans which emerge from the development of the 'feeder route' principle to its logical conclusion, as outlined below. It should emerge that in the restructured system, even with overall single-manning, everyone will gain, provided it is done in such a way as the improved integrated service increases substantially the market share of the public system.

Consider a feeder system in which certain key DART stations are the end-points (or in the cases of the centre-city stations, crossing-points) of east-west feeder routes which are themselves run at a service-level comparable to that of DART itself: that is, an express bus system, with a reliable schedule, stops at a limited number of well-defined locations, each of which is provided with ticketing facilities (not necessarily manned), a system map and schedule, appropriately sheltered.

For example, a look at the map suggests in the south city the following set of east-west routes:

Dunlaoire-Salynoggin-Foxrock-Sandyford

Blackrock-Mt Merrion-Dundrum-Churchtown-Rathfarnham-Templeogue

Sydney Parade-Donnybrook-Milltown-Rathgar-Terenure-Kimmage-Walkinstown

Lansdown Rd-Ranelagh-Rathmines-Harolds Cross-Crumlin-Drimnagh....

The inner-city stations are already linked to Heuston by an express route; Pearse could also be linked to Inchicore via the South Circular, with stops at Stephens Green, Kelly's Corner etc.

North-South Express Routes

Once the set of east-west express routes had been identified; it becomes logical to link most if not all of the stops by north-south express routes (Dundrum-Milltown-Ranelagh etc) and to continue across to the north city on a similar basis, linking with east-west feeders to Connolly, Clontarf, Raheny etc.

User Accessibility

The frequencies on the various routes would range from 20 minute to five-minute intervals, with successive doublings of a basic schedule of which the times past the hour would be on display at all stops.

The overall map of the system (see diagram for one possible version) would be on display, as well as the times in minutes past the hour, at every station/stop, making it easy to a user to plan an itinerary for business in and around the city without resort to private vehicles. (An aspirant user of the public system at present is put off by the inaccessibility of the information and lack of confidence in its accuracy.) Such a display would make mobility in Dublin, for both visitors and natives, as easy as it is in London, Paris or Geneva.

Centre-City Business

The spreading of the north-south traffic over a large number of Liffey bridges would reduce congestion in O'Connell St and help spread centre-city business activity westwards along the river, renewing the older decayed areas by making them accessible for trade and employment.

Schedule Reliability

It is essential that the express buses have absolute priority in all traffic situations; this can be facilitated by a system of bus-lanes, with modifications to traffic-lights where necessary. The build-up of a reputation for reliability in the early stages of the development would be conditional on the existence of the system attracting a significant proportion of current vehicle-users. The management of this transition represents a difficult but not insuperable marketing problem.

Black Taxis

Since the stops of the extended DART/express-bus system would be relatively infrequent, there would be scope for a 'black taxi' service centred round the principal nodes of the express system. This type of service has been shown to be highly economic in the Belfast context. The manning of the 'black taxi' system would take up the surplus manpower available from the single-manning of the express system. The latter could use the vehicles of the existing fleet, until experience suggests new design parameters.

Single-Manning

In the interests of quality of service it is important that the drivers of express vehicles (a) should not have to handle tickets or money (b) should be in constant communication with base so that schedules could be monitored, and so that drivers would have some security. One-off ticketing should take place at the stops, with the bulk of the traffic on a monthly or weekly pass system, renewable in local post offices or newsagents. In no circumstances should driver, vehicle and passenger time be wasted by an inherently slow payment-at-entry system, such as currently maddens people arriving at Dublin Airport or B+I ferry.

The 'black taxi' system could be organised on a worker-co-operative basis, with basic management services provided accessibly by the city transport authority.

There would remain undiluted the market for the traditional taxi system; this indeed would benefit from the reduced level of traffic congestion.

Conclusion

The above arguments are intuitive. To quantify the implications of a change along these lines requires appreciable research. There is much experience available from abroad, which the Dublin Transportation Authority could use in its planning phase. It is essential that the future role of the public transport system in the development of the life of the city be given priority attention, with fresh and imaginative thinking. The transport workers and people of Dublin, if involved in the planning process through their trade union and community organisations, would be likely to respond positively to the opportunities presented by reconstruction along these or similar lines.

Afterword 27/1/87

The above was written over two years ago, under the impression that a Dublin Transportation Authority was soon to be set up. It still stands as an initial proposal, around which a development programme could be built. There is scope for exploring the overall urban planning implications, the impact of multiple centres of growth etc. Some of the methodology of the Canadian group which has looked at the concept of a 'central bus station' could perhaps be adapted; also there may be insights to be found in the ideas developed at the "Dublin Crisis Conference' that was organised by an Taisce in the Synod Hall about a year ago.

A key factor however is the relationship between the market share of the public system, the frequency of service and its reliability. This is a highly non-linear relationship, leading to instability and collapse by 'vicious spiral' once a certain threshold is crossed. Any recovery programme must approach this from a position of strength, with aggressive marketing of a visibly superior service. The strategy for doing this is going to be crucial.

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